HardlyDangerous
12-18-2007, 01:28 PM
This is one of our demo bikes and it is currently for sale should someone want a used bike
After some time on the bike I have found most of the bugs on this bike and made several upgrades and improvements
First things first..
I stripped down the bike and grease every pivot point. Things like the swing arm pivot bolt suspension links, brake pedal, etc all come dry and without lube. I also add grease fittings to the swing arm pivots to help keep water out and prolong the bushing life. The steering bearings had grease but very little, they were washed out and packed with synthetic grease.
Then I grabed a bottle of blue loc-tite and went over every bolt on the chasis, checked them for being tight and used loc-tite on all fasteners not attached with a nylock lock nut.
With all the bolts tight move onto the electrical
I like to use liquid electrical tape and dab some in the back of each plug where the wires go in. This helps seal up the connector and keeps the wires from pulling out easily. Silicone can be used as well a hot glue gun.
On this bike the electric start was not very powerful. I replaced the cheap china battery with a standard common XT-9BS. I also replaced the cheap flimsy main power wire from the battery to the solenoid using 8awg wire and a new 8awg ground to the frame. The cheap glass fuse/fuse holders are cut off and replaced with a more reliable sealed mini blade type fuse holder and fuse. (spare fuses and zip ties are stored in the gap in the cross bar pad). A couple wires had to be zip tied up out of the way and each connecter was given a dab of dielectric grease. Last was to lube the control pivot points, lube the clutch and throttle cables.
After running the bike a bit breaking in the engine and suspension I found the rear shock to be a little soft and slow. I bumped up the preload 3/8" and increase the rebound two notches. The front seemed pretty good at 3 notches out. One thing I did not like were the cheap aluminum rental type bars were way to flexable and the cross bar was loose. I replaced these bars with a set of MSR steel bars. They look and feel a lot better not to mention much stronger. The jetting was a little lean even after moving the needle notch down one grove and raising the float level 1mm. I do not like the K&N style air filter either so I switched to a UNI foam filter and that helped correct the lean mixture. The bike runs awesome now. The china spark plug was replaced with a NGK iridium.
After a couple tanks of fuel the vale clearance was checked and both were overly tight and were re-adjusted (.002" in .004" ext) and the oil changed and Amsoil 10w-40 was added. This woke the engine right up. I also made an adjustment to the steering stop bolts and turned them in a bit more for much tighter turning.
And that's how it stands for now
So far it seems to be a great running and reliable bike with no outstanding issues. The only thing this bike needs in a good o-ring chain.
after market upgrades
XT-9BS battery
8awg power/ground wires
mini blade fuse/fuse holder
sealed electrcal connections
Uni foam air filter
1 notch richer on the main jet, float level +1mm
NGK plug
MSR handle bars
Synthetic grease/engine oil
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/hardlydangerous/HDM/IMG_0614.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/hardlydangerous/HDM/IMG_0612.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/hardlydangerous/HDM/IMG_0636.jpg
After some time on the bike I have found most of the bugs on this bike and made several upgrades and improvements
First things first..
I stripped down the bike and grease every pivot point. Things like the swing arm pivot bolt suspension links, brake pedal, etc all come dry and without lube. I also add grease fittings to the swing arm pivots to help keep water out and prolong the bushing life. The steering bearings had grease but very little, they were washed out and packed with synthetic grease.
Then I grabed a bottle of blue loc-tite and went over every bolt on the chasis, checked them for being tight and used loc-tite on all fasteners not attached with a nylock lock nut.
With all the bolts tight move onto the electrical
I like to use liquid electrical tape and dab some in the back of each plug where the wires go in. This helps seal up the connector and keeps the wires from pulling out easily. Silicone can be used as well a hot glue gun.
On this bike the electric start was not very powerful. I replaced the cheap china battery with a standard common XT-9BS. I also replaced the cheap flimsy main power wire from the battery to the solenoid using 8awg wire and a new 8awg ground to the frame. The cheap glass fuse/fuse holders are cut off and replaced with a more reliable sealed mini blade type fuse holder and fuse. (spare fuses and zip ties are stored in the gap in the cross bar pad). A couple wires had to be zip tied up out of the way and each connecter was given a dab of dielectric grease. Last was to lube the control pivot points, lube the clutch and throttle cables.
After running the bike a bit breaking in the engine and suspension I found the rear shock to be a little soft and slow. I bumped up the preload 3/8" and increase the rebound two notches. The front seemed pretty good at 3 notches out. One thing I did not like were the cheap aluminum rental type bars were way to flexable and the cross bar was loose. I replaced these bars with a set of MSR steel bars. They look and feel a lot better not to mention much stronger. The jetting was a little lean even after moving the needle notch down one grove and raising the float level 1mm. I do not like the K&N style air filter either so I switched to a UNI foam filter and that helped correct the lean mixture. The bike runs awesome now. The china spark plug was replaced with a NGK iridium.
After a couple tanks of fuel the vale clearance was checked and both were overly tight and were re-adjusted (.002" in .004" ext) and the oil changed and Amsoil 10w-40 was added. This woke the engine right up. I also made an adjustment to the steering stop bolts and turned them in a bit more for much tighter turning.
And that's how it stands for now
So far it seems to be a great running and reliable bike with no outstanding issues. The only thing this bike needs in a good o-ring chain.
after market upgrades
XT-9BS battery
8awg power/ground wires
mini blade fuse/fuse holder
sealed electrcal connections
Uni foam air filter
1 notch richer on the main jet, float level +1mm
NGK plug
MSR handle bars
Synthetic grease/engine oil
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/hardlydangerous/HDM/IMG_0614.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/hardlydangerous/HDM/IMG_0612.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/hardlydangerous/HDM/IMG_0636.jpg